Legislative Democrats on the Assembly Elections Committee advanced a bill on Wednesday aimed at keeping armed officers away from polling places and daycare facilities. AB 2230 would prevent any armed or uniformed individual from being stationed within 100 feet of a voting location or childcare center unless they are responding to a specific public safety incident.
“No parent should fear losing their child to enforcement actions and no voter should be intimidated from participating in our democracy,” said Democratic Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias, who introduced the bill.
Deploying ICE agents or armed officers to polling places and vote centers during an election is already illegal, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Yet, Democrats argue the bill is still needed to protect eligible voters from possible intimidation, especially following the widespread immigration crackdown that played out in Southern California last summer.
“The idea that this president would not send ICE agents to intimidate legitimate voters at polling places is laughable,” said Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman of Palo Alto, who voted in favor of the bill. “This president will do whatever he possibly can to hold onto power.”
Republicans have long argued, without evidence, that voter fraud by non-citizens is a threat to election integrity in California. The committee’s two Republican members opposed the measure.
“I would hope we would agree that someone who is here illegally shouldn’t be going to a voting center and voting anyway,” said Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher of Yuba City, who serves as the Assembly Elections Committee’s Vice Chair.
Gallagher also questioned whether the state has the authority to regulate federal agents and the feasibility of enforcement.
“We shouldn’t be creating these sort of red zones a hundred feet from places they might not even know is a childcare center or a vote center where they can’t go and they can potentially be prosecuted,” Gallagher added.
The bill passed on a 6-2 party line vote and heads next to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
